Dominant eye and straight shaving

[bromsvajer]

I did’t know I was left eye dominant until I picked up straight shaving. Whenever my left eye does not see whats happening I feel a bit dizzy, like my hand and eyes dont work together on autopilot.

I have equally good vision on both eyes.

Is there anyone else here who can relate to this?

 

[Alum of Potash]

I'm left-eye dominant and right-handed. The result is a little bit of parallax in aiming at a close target. My father was right-eye dominant and left-handed. He said he could never shoot straight as a result, which is ironic given that he was a career officer in the US Army (or maybe that explains why he was in the artillery branch).

I've never had a problem with shaving though because of it. I also use both hands, shaving the left side of my face with my left hand and the right side with my right hand.

Maybe you know the test for eye dominance? Extend an arm and stick out the thumb. Stair at it fixedly with both eyes open for several seconds. Then close one eye, still looking at your thumb. Open it and close the other eye. The eye in which the thumb does not appear to move is the dominant one. A simpler way is to look through the eyepiece of a single-lens reflex camera or a microscope. Most people instinctively use their dominant eye for this. I would be a bit lost in looking through an SLR or microscope with my right eye.

 

[Jenks]

I have significant astigmatism in my left eye such that I can't really see my left cheek when using my shavette. Not so much a problem with DE as I seem to be able to get both eyes on all parts of my face. But with the shavette the mechanics of holding the razor means that there are portions of the left side of my face where my right eye is blocked and all is blurry. Need to go by feel in those areas.

 

[KW Driver]

Right eye and hand dominate (though my left eye currently has better vision). I shave right handed only, wear my glasses when I shave, and use both eyes to watch what I’m doing.

 

[Legion]

I swap hands when shaving, so my vision is never blocked.

 

[bromsvajer]

@alum
Doing your simple thumb test confirms I am left eye dominant. I also note my left eye does not see my nose (so much) but my right one does. I guess my brain filters it out.

I shave with both hands but do 2/3 with right hand.

Hand vision blocking is not the problem. It is my proud snaut getting in the way. Typically going ear to shin on my right. I guess I need to learn not to twist my head so much.

 

[steveclarkus]

I did’t know I was left eye dominant until I picked up straight shaving. Whenever my left eye does not see whats happening I feel a bit dizzy, like my hand and eyes dont work together on autopilot.

I have equally good vision on both eyes.

Is there anyone else here who can relate to this?

Only with shooting.

 

[B B]

I'm left-eye dominant and right-handed. The result is a little bit of parallax in aiming at a close target. My father was right-eye dominant and left-handed. He said he could never shoot straight as a result, which is ironic given that he was a career officer in the US Army (or maybe that explains why he was in the artillery branch).

I've never had a problem with shaving though because of it. I also use both hands, shaving the left side of my face with my left hand and the right side with my right hand.

Maybe you know the test for eye dominance? Extend an arm and stick out the thumb. Stair at it fixedly with both eyes open for several seconds. Then close one eye, still looking at your thumb. Open it and close the other eye. The eye in which the thumb does not appear to move is the dominant one. A simpler way is to look through the eyepiece of a single-lens reflex camera or a microscope. Most people instinctively use their dominant eye for this. I would be a bit lost in looking through an SLR or microscope with my right eye.

^^ This. I'm left-eye dominant and cross-dominant for handedness. That is, I write left-handed, shoot rifles and shotguns left-handed, golf right-handed, use scissors and most silverware right-handed, and shoot pistols right-handed. I scoot the pistol sights over just a tad so I can see them comfortably with my left eye. I can play drums on either a right or left hand setup. I tend to shave with the right hand, but I can use the left (though it is easier with a DE).

 

[LJS]

It is my proud snaut getting in the way.

Do you not shave in front of a mirror? Maybe back up some so you can see better?

I use both hands. I am left handed for fine motor skills like eating utensils and writing but right dominant for everything else - strength, throwing, shooting, kicking, eye-dominance etc. I am almost ambidextrous with my hands which is probably a bit unusual. It does make it easy for me to shave using both hands (not at same time!) without even thinking......but I have no idea what that would have to do with me being able to see myself shaving in the mirror with either my left or right eye. I can see how hands would get in the way, but with a mirror you ought to be able to see around your nose. Best of luck to you - my best suggestion is back up and use your mirror.

 

[bromsvajer]

Do you not shave in front of a mirror? Maybe back up some so you can see better?

...

I do shave in front of a mirror and about a sink away from it.

I think this is one of those practice makes perfect things, give it a few hundreds more shaves and it will probably not be an issue.

Regarding keeping both eyes on target and noseblocking, is geofatboy noseblocked or not here?

 

[LJS]

I see what you meant now. You are turning you head so far to one side you are only seeing the mirror with one eye. Even with your dominant eye you will lose depth perception when only using one eye. You might try turning your head less where both eyes can see even though you won’t have as flat of a view of your cheek.

 

[6Cuda6]

With more practice you wont need to "look" as hard and it will become more natural and it be more muscle memory instead...to my pont there is or use to be a member here who was visually impaired that used a straight.

 

[Njguy1977]

OMG I can totally relate to this. Here is the back story, 4 years ago due to my high blood pressure I suffer from what is called an eye stroke. The blood flow into my right eye goes in, but due to a blood clot will not flow outward. At the start of this all I was 38, which I’m probably the youngest person to ever have this happen to. I have to relearn everything that deals with depth perception, from wiring to driving to shooting a rifle or handgun using my left eye, even tying a hook on a fishing line and taking a fish off a hook is extremely difficult for me. I have to go through monthly shots in the right eye and my vision is permanently damaged. Even got a cataract from the meds they were using and had surgery to remove that. So now I can see far somewhat, but my close up vision is screwed up worse then my distance. My vision is permanently damaged from all of this, not happy about it but it’s the hand I was dealt in life so I have to play it.

OK, so now when it comes to using a straight I have to start out carefully and slowly until I get the right feel. Once I get the right angle and feel I basically fly blind for the first stroke and trust my hand and the feel along my face. Crazy I know, but I have to trust in my other senses in order to get the results I want. After a while it becomes a bit natural but there will always be moments when my vision is cloudy or blocked and I have to go at it blind in some areas. I’m still trying to relearn everything that I used to enjoy doing.

Larry

 

[Climb14er]

I'm right handed with left eye dominant but this does not matter. I shave with both hands, Feather AC RG. Very close shave.

 

[eKretz]

Left eye dominant and right handed here also. I shave right side with right hand, left side with left hand WTG, but for ATG I use right hand only. I think if anyone has trouble shaving with this cross dominance it may just be a matter of experience and muscle memory. I have shaved with no mirror plenty of times. Once your "muscle memory" is trained it's pretty easy, like riding a bike. You don't even have to think about it any more.

 

[RayClem]

Up until 20 years ago, I was right handed and right eye dominant. Then I got a scratch in the cornea of my right eye that inteferred with the acuity of vision in that eye. My left eye took over dominance. A year ago, I had my corneas laser polished and cataracts removed. Now both eyes have similar vision. My right eye is starting to recover its dominance.

I shave using a very large wall mirror. When shaving with the grain, I shave using the hand on the corresponding side of the face. When shaving against the grain, I reverse my grip on the razor and shave using the opposite hand. Although I am right-handed, I have done many things which require equal levels of skill in both hands: typing, playing piano, playing guitar, etc. Thus, shaving with both hands and either eye is not a big deal.

 

[Venom8431]

Interesting. I had never heard about this issue before. I can't say I have issues with left vs right eye for vision other than my left eye having slightly worse vision. I tried the vision test above and can't say I really noticed movement with either eye focused on my thumb.

My biggest challenge comes from being very right hand dominate.